Achievements of Chess Without Borders

Program adopted by world class grandmaster and 2006 US Open Chess Champion and 2008 US Champion Yury Shulman in 2006.

Two time winner of The Governor’s Award for “ service to the community” from The State of Illinois in 2006 and 2007

Citation for the program from Illinois Senator Barak Obama and Congresswoman Melissa Bean in 2006

100 students and 5 teachers awarded The Presidents Volunteer Service Award from The White House from 2005 -2013.

Simultaneous Chess match held at Community Unit School District 220 by the Woman’s World Champion Grandmaster Susan Polgar in 2010.

Chess Tournament hosted by chess volunteer and former Bulls Basketball player B. J. Armstrong at Barrington High School in 2008.

Founder of the chess program Rishi Sethi won the Prudential Award, Presidential Freedom Scholarship Award, the AXA and US News and World Report Scholarship Award in 2006-2007 and was the Finalist for the 2008 Harris Wofford Award. Sujit Johnston won the Kohl’s Award 2012 and many other students have won various awards for their service with the organization.

Finalist for the 2009 Chicago Innovation Award for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Citation from The Jane Goodall Institute in 2009 and 2012 for implementation of humanitarian projects.

Winner of The Unsung Hero Award for Project Meher presented by Radiostation Y103.9 and Advocate Hospital in 2010.

Produced a documentary “A Future for Meher” chronicling the humanitarian work done by the program. This was entered in the 2011 Emmy Awards and in the 2012 Elgin Film Festival.

The program is regularly honored for its excellence combining learning, service and philanthropy in local, national and international newspapers, journals and web sites.

Several students continue to volunteer, win awards and scholarships for their work with the program. Program has donated over $103,000 to various charities through chess events.

Started chess programs through donation of chess sets and textbooks internationally in Nigeria, Sudan, The Marshall Islands, India, Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Chile and nationally in needy schools in the US.

Youth from the program are invited to attend the UN Youth Assembly in New York for their humanitarian work since 2009. Junior Madison Rossi represented Chess Without Borders at the UN Youth Assembly in August 2012 and Rich Ni attended in 2013, Varun Ahuja and Bruce Cai attended in 2014.

Provided social entrepreneurial internships to students in the US as well as in India. Austen Murrow and Sujit Johnston both worked in India in 2011 and 2012 on projects they created under the guidance of Chess Without Borders.

Recognized by the MacArthur Foundation in 2010 for its humanitarian work. $200 donation

The program raised funds to provide medical care for a little girl living in the slums of India and continues to raise funds to educate her through annual tournaments held for the last 5 years. Over $45,000 has been raised towards this goal. A documentary “A Future for Meher” produced that has been screened in Columbia University in New York and in Amman Jordan along with many other places by youth who have used the screening to raise funds.

Gourmet cook and Philanthropist Zein Bertacchi wins the Best Cook Award in Amman, Jordan in 2012. Zein has raised most of these funds through student led projects during chess tournaments since the creation of the mission of combining chess and philanthropy.

Established the Maggie Gruber computer center in 2013 for bringing computer literacy to children living in the slums of Delhi, India.

A digital version of the textbook ” Chess! Lessons from a Grandmaster” available for the ipad since 2012 is bringing chess to other countries in the rest of the world.

Won award grant for $5000 from Ascension Health System 2017 and $10,000 from Exelon 2018

TOTAL DONATIONS:

Total current donations: $157,310

Upcoming Events

Dear friends,

We are happy to cangatulate Colin Wicks who took first place at K-8 Illinois Championship with a perfect 7/7 score! Also we are glad for all our students who got a valuable experience at this event!

Chess Without Borders is looking for chess instructors, teachers and supervisors for our chess classes! Please get in touch with us if you are interested in one of those positions. Thanks!

Chess Without Borders Summer camps will take place at Barrington High School on June 25-29 and at Quest Academy on July 16-20. Registration is available on our website. Please register before May 1st for a discounted rate.

List of upcoming tournaments: Elgin Academy tournament is on April 7th. May 12th is going to be a final event for this school year (location TBA)

3rd Edition of Chess! Lessons from Grandmaster is available at our store or through amazon.com

Chess! Lessons From a Grandmaster!

Chess! Lessons From A Grandmaster is now available on iPad! The book is interactive and is available on iTunes. To order a copy of the hardcover book, please visit our store.